A Forgotten Rose
by Martin4Mossflower
Summary: "What Martin doesn't know can't hurt him." Or can it? Martin seems more depressed than usual, and that's saying something. Can the Redwallers cheer him up with a visit to Gonff's friend Polleekin? *winks*
1. A Forgotten Rose

Polleekin woke with a start. She hated when she got summons from Dark Forest. Unfortunately, all those beasts seemed to flock to her to give loved ones who still lived messages of hope, or as the case may be, impending doom. The seer's old, tired eyes brimmed over with tears as she realized what would have to be done when the time came."Marthen ee Wurrier woant ever furgive 'imself, an' all by moi paw!" The beleaguered mole cried helplessly to the pink-tinged sky, tears running unstopped down her careworn face.

She was in a quiet glade, laying on a patch of soft grass. She saw a fairly large male badger, positively shaking with grief as he watched a young golden striped badger streaking towards a huge, slime covered building. As Polleekin stared down at this hopeless scene, she saw a vermin band in the strange colored badger's path, seemingly waiting for something. The badger, mad as he was with grief, did not see them, and charged headlong into the trap. The strange badger's sobs increased as he watched thefoolhardy youth get knocked unconscious by the vermin's blows.

"Why Sunflash?" He whispered, still too consumed in his grief to notice Polleekin.

"Excuze me, Zurr Badger, but whoi beez you summoning me?" The old mole asked kindly.

"I am Barkstripe, and it seems the fates have answered my pleas," the formerly grief-stricken beast introduced himself.

"I have summoned you to Dark Forest to forewarn you of your approaching company, Grumm, Pallum, a badger called Rowanoak and a sorely wounded but triumphant Martin. I think you already know that Laterose of Noonvale is in danger, owing to your prodigious skill as a seer, but you may not have foreseen this: Rose is alive, and Martin can never know of it.


	2. An Untold Past

Gonff was worried. He was always unnerved about Martin's solemness and formality towards those he didn't know, but his comfort around acquaintances was at an all-time low this summer, to the extent where he wouldn't even smile. The Mousethief was blissfully unaware of his warrior friend's harrowing past. All he knew was that Martin couldn't walk into the flower garden and he seemed to distance himself from had always known that Martin was pretty introverted, and he never seemed to bond very closely with anyone except himself and Foremole Dinny. The mousethief felt rejected because somehow, this summer was different.

The thief was in Great Hall. He was sitting on the floor, simply staring at the tapestry Martin had found at his birthplace in the caves in the far north. Martin's grandsire truly did resemble him, leaning casually on his sword with that roguish grin Gonff usually harbored on his face. The depiction even showed stormy grey eyes that Gonff had never seen on anybeast before he was found "flying" on a cloud with stolen vittles from Kotir.

Gonff knew Martin was formal, but these days, he was depressed too. The thing that worried him the most was that he wouldn't tell anyone what was wasn't the prince of lie detectors for nothing. He knew Martin was keeping something away from him. Gonff was worried. Gonff was asleep.

Ok, well I got the second chapter posted while I was home sick. I didn't even know kids could get stress-induced fevers until this year in seventh grade. U. I I profusely thank Lady Storm and Bull Wavepaw for being the first two reviers of the first fic I've ever written in my life! And also, I looked over the first chapter,and I completely agree with you. I hope that the second chapter was better. :)


	3. A Memory of the Future

Polleekin watched the solemn procession with Martin's stretcher in tow apprehensively, nerving herself for the days to come. She remembered Barkstripe telling her that for a season, he would stay at her house, making up his mind about whether to go south, away from the place Rose had called home, or north, to her grave. He couldn't know that Laterose's grave wasn't occupied, or he would go back immediately to live with his lost love. No, he had to go south and save Mossflower.

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Gonff led Martin over the river and through the woods(to grandmother's house we go) to a secluded moletree, a fallen tree leading to an upright tree with a mole on top. Martin was told back at Redwall, well, we should tell you in a better way than just a recounting… so,

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Martin was pacing again, his old wounds aching worse than usual. He tried to put on a brave face for the other Redwallers, but the scars he had from many battles were acting up again, twinging at the worst possible moments.

For example, he was just lifting a sandstone block to put on the south wall when the back wounds from Tsarmina started stinging and he fell on his back with the block at his side. Everybeast thought he ought to go to the infirmary tent, but Martin flatly refused, saying that it was just an old pain. No one was fooled when he took two at the next drop off though. That was just one of them. Mostly they came at night, preventing sleep.

Unfortunately, Martin found it hard to stay in the present at times when his pains came, resulting in random play overs of the worst moments of his life. Luckily, he didn't remember anything before Tsarmina except one memory. The Laterose bush. He always saw those words in his mind when he was especially tired. The laterose was always capitalised, like it was a real living woodlander. Martin just couldn't figure out his own mind sometimes!

Anyways, Gonff knew something was up, so he just told Martin one day that they were going on an adventure. Knowing Gonff, that little thief had thrown him a blindfold as soon as he was ready to set off.

He could have sworn that every enemy from miles had come running as soon as Martin and Gonff had set off. He smelled the stench of rat somewhere when Gonff started unsheathing his daggers. Martin did likewise, all his senses excluding his eyes were trained on the woodland around him. Before the rat stench could reach him, Martin heard lunging on either side of him, with Gonff facing two more. No wonder the stench was so strong, Martin should have sensed five rats!

He heard a rustle as Gonff lunged at one of the rats flanking him. Martin saw his opportunity and leaped into the fray. He heard the two that they were fighting run away as he turned to face another struck down that one and moved on just as the group disbanded.

"You are so lucky that I thought of training with a blindfold," Martin turned towards his friend with a mock-serious face on.

"How was I supposed to know that we would run right into vermin on our way to the tree?"Gonff retorted indignantly.

"A tree?" Martin thought for a second that he knew the area around him, but the feeling passed. It still felt too familiar, like one of those ghosts of a memory, tugging at his mind, but just out of reach, yet tantalizingly familiar.

"Look!" Gonff exclaimed,"We're here!"

Martin felt deja vu coming on, as if he had been here before. Just as Gonff told him to take off his blindfold, a VERY old mole came walking down the fallen tree trunk as if it was a staircase and stared at Martin like she'd seen a ghost. Before they were introduced properly however, Gonff moved into sight.

"Hey, Polleekin! How are things in this neck of the woods?"


	4. The Crossroads of Destiny

Rose was heartbroken. It had been ten years since Martin's death. She found out from Polleekin when she traveled to Noonvale with Pallum, Grumm and Rowanoak. They explained that her brave warrior had been overcome by a measly stoat. At first, she didn't believe a word of it, but as time passed by, Rose realized that Martin would never desert her or any of the fighters like this. So, she gave up hope.

She knew that her parents worried about her, but sometimes, she lost faith in life and succumbed to grief and hopelessness. It was hard not to do when faced with the emptiness of a lost love.

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Martin was heartbroken.(Sound familiar?) It had been ten years since ?'s death. He found out from ? when he recovered enough from his ? to converse with others. ? didn't need to explain anything. He had seen it with his own eyes, he was just too hard-headed to realize that he had killed the one he loved most. The worst thing was that he remembered his love, but not the mouse he shared it with.

He knew that Gonff and the others worried about him, but sometimes, he lost faith in life and succumbed to grief and hopelessness. It was hard not to when faced with the emptiness of a lost love.

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Polleekin walked out of her tree when she saw him. At first she thought she was hallucinating, as some old creatures do. She blinked. He was still there. When she had finally come to terms with the fact that he was there, she heard her old friend Gonff calling up to her:

"Hey, Polleekin! How are things in this neck of the woods?"

She was still too stunned to answer. She almost flinched when she saw his eyes, for those stormy grey eyes held too much pain for one ordinary mouse to bear. No, Martin was not an ordinary mouse, but she could tell when a mouse was stretched to the limit. She came down from her tree and saw Gonff talking all about her to Martin.

"She makes the best food and unfortunately is in the bad habit of throwing it at travelers, but it's still pretty good!"

"But oi ain' throwin' moi gurt beakers 'round, bo hurr no!" Polleekin said back with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well I'd imagine not, otherwise we'd have been knocked unconscious by now." Martin said, chuckling.

By this point, Polleekin was extremely confused. Why did Martin act like he didn't know her? Finally, she settled on the idea that he didn't want Gonff to know about his old life. Of course, she invited them in, as any good host should, but she would steal a glance or two at Martin whenever she could. She felt almost maternal to the orphans of the area, no matter how old they were, and that included both of her visitors. Polleekin knew that Gonff had the Stickles' to take care of him, but whenever the mousethief visited her, she would ask after Martin.

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"This is a nice place you've got here. It looks almost familiar…." Martin said curiously.

Gonff wondered what that meant. Had he passed here on his way down from the northlands? No one would be surprised at that, considering all the weird looks he'd been getting from Polleekin. Gonff figured that the old mole just wanted to get a good look at THE Martin the Warrior. Satisfied at that, he continued the conversation.

"So, Polleekin, I was wondering if Martin and I could maybe stay here for a few days, you know, help him get away from the warrior life over at Redwall, aye? It's been very stressful lately with the usual hot and dry summers, and Martin over here is in charge of defense. Redwall is still not even half-built yet, so vermin see us as an easy target for food and supplies. He leads in battle, but the vermin don't know his name until he starts swinging! There hasn't been one vermin since Tsarmina-"

Gonff felt Martin tense at the name.

"-Who ever even touched the threshold of Redwall with him attacking!"

Gonff used this opportunity to throw out every type of praise he'd thought of since Martin started getting depressed. He would have said more, but Polleekin interrupted.

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"Well, oi've got some gurt beds that stay open fur travelers, but how long would you stay ho urr?

Polleekin was having Noonvalers over in a day or two, and she would like to have only Martin there to meet them.

"Well, I would stay for a day or two, and then leave Martin here a little longer-"

Polleekin was overjoyed,"Whoi sure!"

"That's that then, I suppose…" (time warp cause I feel like it)

It was night out already,"Maybe you two gurt travelers better see whurr the bed are," Polleekin said.

"Sure!" Gonff and Martin answered in unison.


End file.
